Wigzish

gaywrites:

Roger Gorley was arrested at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri on Tuesday for resisting hospital security as they forced him from his sick partner’s bedside. 

Gorley and his partner Allen have been together for five years and have a joint Power of Attorney to recognize their relationship. But when Gorley went to visit his partner at Kansas City’s Research Medical Center hospital, a member of Allen’s family asked him to leave.

When Gorley refused, security forced him off the premises in handcuffs, reportedly placing a restraining order on him so he can’t return. (The hospital denies the restraining order.) 

This hospital clearly messed up on more levels than one: 

Back in 2010, President Barack Obama ordered all hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid payments to allow patients to determine who has visitation rights and who can make medical decisions. This right, extended to gay and lesbian partners, is supposed to give designated persons the same rights as immediate family members.

Research Medical Center responded to the allegations in a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon: 

This was an issue of disruptive and belligerent behavior by the visitor that affected patient care. The hospital’s response followed the same policies that would apply to any individual engaged in this behavior in a patient care setting and was not in any way related to the patient’s or the visitor’s sexual orientation or marital status. 

I dare you to read this story and then tell me our relationships aren’t real. This is a textbook case of a medical establishment siding with a homophobic family rather than keeping a patient’s best interests at heart, and it’s vile.

Keeping these two in my thoughts in light of the unjust challenges ahead of them. Damn, this is not fair.